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Category Archives: Prison Law

The grand chamber is to deliver its anticipated decision on prisoner votes on Tuesday 22nd May in the case of Scoppola v. Italy (no 3). This decision is following what appears to be conflicting rulings in relation to which prisoners should be given the vote. In the case of Hirst No.2 the European Court stated…

Sam Hallam was convicted of the murder of trainee chef Essayas Kassahun in 2005, where he was sentenced to life with the recommendation of serving 12 years. He and his supporters have always protested his innocence. Today Hallam’s case was heard in the Court of Appeal after new evidence emerged raising doubt over key parts…

One of Britain’s largest prisons has been criticised in an inspection report. The report found that new and vulnerable inmates waited up to a week for a shower; some prisoners were too frightened of others to attend religious worship; and inmates were being put in an ‘unofficial punishment’ unit. Some inmates approaching release have found…

Work this Way is a charity based at Ford Prison which is piloting a new eco-friendly scheme. The trial project is collecting used domestic cooking oil from residents inEast Prestonand recycling it into bio fuels. Prisoners at Ford Prison have been trained to carry out the process. Work this Way aims to cut re-offending amongst prisoners at…

A survey carried out at Durham Prison has revealed that inmates failed random drug tests; 1 in 8 said they developed a drug problem after being sent to prison; a third admitted it was easy to get hold of drugs; and 1 in 5 thought that their drug problem would still exist after release. This…

Saturday 30th March 2012 saw three of Swain & Co.'s crime and prison law specialists give presentations to prisoner's families. Jemma Blomfield, Umar Khan and Rebecca Joyce volunteered to attend and participate in a presentation organised by Action for Prisoners' families. The aim of the day was to give families an idea of the processes…

Here at Swain & Co. we were not surprised to hear the Liam Stacey had lodged an appeal to his 56 day imprisonment sentence. The sentence appeared harsh and highly led by the publicity that surrounds this case. District Judge John Charles had stated when sentencing, that “at the moment not just the footballer’s family,…

HMIP Inspection Report was published yesterday (23 March 2012) revealing there were serious shortcomings in terms of self-harm and suicides, no work had been done with equality, and particularly ethnic minority prisoners who remain isolated at the prison. Perhaps the most serious, there was no real oversight of the use of force by prison officers.…

It has been estimated that approximately 7% of the 900,000 Crown Court cases are subject to errors. This includes the possibility of cases being dropped inappropriately, it also means that some cases will be being unjustifiably brought to trial. Swain & Co recently handled a case where the CPS acted wholly inappropriately and unlawfully in…

Our Criminal Defence team at Swain and Co solicitors are committed to keeping up to date with criminal cases worldwide which may change the face of the criminal justice system and establish trends in relation to youth justice. Amy Groves says; “As criminal defence specialists it is always interesting to look at rulings in other…